A Sorceress and Her Knight
by Karn Relique
Summary: Lirus Remingham was headed nowhere in life quickly. He felt unsatisfied, that is, until he was fired from his job. That was when he was flung from his life and thrust into something much greater. Rated T for Gore and Violence.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Figured I'd rewrite this since I have some time on my hands, and I wanted to get back into it. Been a long time since I've updated, I know, and for those few that actually enjoyed my stories, I'm sorry. I've been busy trying to get my YouTube channel up and running and to make YouTube partner, and also been looking for a part time job so I can get myself back into college. But I digress. Here's my rewritten version of a Sorceress and her Knight! I'll be replacing the first chapter with this one and taking down the rest. Hope you all enjoy!

Lirus sat in his small apartment, sighing as he took off his work clothes. He hated that place..the smell of all of the people gathered in one place sickened him..not to mention the smell of the actual sick when people got nauseous from the large screen.  
>Lirus Remingham had worked at the Golden Globe theater across the street for the past five years of his life, and it seemed like he was going nowhere. He groaned inwardly.<br>"Ugh..what am I doing with my life..I'm already twenty-five and what have I done..." He said quietly to himself as he got into the shower. As the steaming hot water ran over his body, he began to relax and, as always, think about his life.

* * *

><p>Lirus grew up in a small town in Tennessee, one of those backwoods towns that you only hear about in the movies. His father left him at a young age, and his mother had died giving birth to him. Sometimes he wondered what he would've been like had he been raised by someone who actually cared about him, but from what he had discovered, his mother seemingly never wanted him anyway. He grew up with a family that seemed to live for giving homes to children that didn't have any. A massive house with at least thirty people in it, it seemed more like an orphanage at times then a home. But then, it was never a home for Lirus. The couple who took care of them were nice enough, sure, but there was something missing in their eyes. Something only Lirus seemed to notice. It was only years later, after the couple was arrested for tax fraud, the he realized what it was. The thing that was missing was geniune, unrequited love. Something Lirus felt he would never know. When he turned 19, he moved out of that small town, and into the city of Nashville, where he started doing oddjobs for people until he managed to save up enough for a small apartment. That's when he got the job at the Golden Globe, and he'd been working there ever since, never getting so much as a pay raise.<p>

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><p>Lirus snapped back to reality to realize the water had gone cold. Ice cold. With a yelp he leapt out of the shower, shivering and rubbing his arms to get the feeling back.<br>"Alright, man, you gotta stop spacing out like that..." His teeth were chattering as he wrapped a towel around himself, when he heard the phone ringing. Walking out into his living room, he picked up the phone, and heard his boss on the other line.  
>"Listen, Lirus..you're a hard worker, and for the past few years, you've made all our lives here a bit easier.."<br>"..Yeah?" Lirus grew nervous. Either he was about to get a promotion..or he was about to be fired. He hoped it wasn't the latter.  
>"..but the Globe just isn't bringing in the money like it used to. And..well..you know how it goes..I'm shuttin' the place down.." Lirus' heart nearly stopped. His only source of income was being cut off.<br>"C'mon, Chief, I need this job! A lot of people need this place, you can't just close it down now! Look, summer's coming up, and we always make plenty from that, surely you can wai.." His boss interrupted him.  
>"Look, Lirus, I'm sorry, I really am. I know your situation ain't easy, but I gotta think about my own family, too. I'm barely makin' enough to feed 'em, let alone pay a few dozen other people enough for them to live their lives..I'm sorry man, but this is the way it has to be." Those last words echoed in Lirus' ears, but he ignored it and sighed.<br>"...Alright..I don't like it but..I understand. I'll find someplace else." He hung up the phone before his boss could respond, and flopped down on his small couch, staring at his mediocre size tv.  
>"...I need to get my mind off things..if just for a little bit.." He flipped on his PS2, the only system he could afford, and started flipping through a stack of CDs, when one caught his eye.<br>"Final Fantasy 8, huh...been awhile, old friend.." A small smile creased his face as he looked at the old CD, fond memories of playing the game when he was alone in the big house. It had been one of his only sources of happiness growing up, and looking back, he was shocked that he hadn't even touched it since he moved out of that couples' house. He popped in a PS1 memory card that he had actually found just lying in the street (happily discovering that it still worked perfectly), and set the disc in the disc tray, and closed it. He listened with a smile as he heard that music starting up. He sat through the entire piece and waiting for the menu to come up by itself, for old times' sake. Once it had, he selected a new game, and started it up. The screen faded to black...and stayed that way. Lirus looked at the TV worriedly.  
>"..Shit..is my PS2 going out?" He began to open the disc tray to see if the disc was scratched or anything, when he heard a strange noise, a sort of garbled chanting, almost as if he were hearing it underwater. With shock, he realized that it was one of the songs that played near the end of the game. As soon as the realization hit his mind, Words flashed up on the screen.<p>

_I'll be here..  
><em>

Lirus looked at the words, startled.

"Wha-?"

_I'll be 'waiting' here.."_

It was then that Lirus realized that he couldn't move. He was frozen in the act of standing up, a position that would normally be uncomfortable, but he soon realized he couldn't feel anything at all, and that he wasn't even breathing. He tried to take in a breath but couldn't.  
>"What the hell is going on?!" He tried to raise his voice to shout for help, maybe one of his neighbors would hear, but his voice barely cracked above a whisper.<p>

_I'll be waiting here for you..so..if you come here..you'll find me.._  
>Lirus fell to his knees, but it wasn't of his own volition. His eyes glanced down to his arms where a tingling was beginning to spread, and with horror, he saw that his arms were beginning to dissolve in a red light. He let out a silent scream of terror and the light traveled up his arms, and, when it reached his shoulders, he began to struggle in earnest. The light took on like a virus, and spread over the rest of his body with rapid pace. The last thing he remembered seeing were two more words on the screen.<p>

_...I promise._

* * *

><p>Lirus smelled something he hadn't smelled in a long time. Then he heard something he hadn't heard in a long time. Chirping. The smell of grass. He opened his eyes to a blindingly bright blue sky. He blinked.<p>

_Wh-what the? Where am I?_ Lirus sat up, rubbing his head and looking around. He was in the middle of an empty grass field, sitting on top of a hill. He stood up painfully, rubbing his arms.

_Okay, Lirus..what have you gotten yourself into this time?_ He began to look around when he noticed the two tombstones sitting behind him. He read the epitaphs on them. The left read:

_Here lies Edea Kramer  
><em>

_loving wife and adoptive mother,_

_ whose children saved the world._

The right tombstone read:

_Here lies Cid Kramer_

_ beloved husband,_

_ and Knight to the Sorceress Edea,_

_ whose students saved her from herself._

Lirus stared at the two names on the gravestones, shocked.  
>"O-okay, real funny." He had no idea who he was talking to, but this had to be a joke. There was no way that he was in the game world.<br>He heard a loud whirring noise coming from behind him, and as he turned around, he knew, without a doubt, that the impossible had happened. Balamb Garden flew over his head and swung around to land as he passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hopefully this time I'll proofread it. -_- Sorry about that. Enjoy Chapter 2!

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><p>Darkness. He was in an endless expanse of darkness. As he floated through it, he lost all sense of time, and he didn't care in the slightest. His mind was blank, empty. Everything was peaceful.<p>

But then there was a flash of light. Then another, and another. He watched with childlike amazement, when he felt something behind him. He turned himself over slowy, and beheld a strange man. At first glance, there was nothing unusual about him, and yet, beneath that large, brown coat, and underneath that hood, Lirus felt something… otherworldly about this man.

"Welcome to the Beginning, Lirus." His voice was deep and rich, sounding old, far older then Lirus thought possible.

"The beginning of what?" Lirus felt like a child before this man. He felt small, and insignificant, as if he were an ant beholding a god. And yet, no threat issued from this man, and he did nothing but fold his long arms behind his back. Lirus could see the corners of the man's mouth turn up in a slight smile.

"That's an excellent question. It is always the good questions that have no good answers to them, none that can be found easily." The man said, that small smile still on his obscured face, "The Beginning isn't an act. It is the name of this place."

"..So its just the name, huh…can you tell me something, then?" Lirus tilted his head, and the man chuckled.

"You may ask any question you desire. I may even answer some of them."

"…Well..for starters..what is this place? Where am I? How did I get here?" Lirus glanced around to see the stars rapidly forming into galaxies around him. The man laughed.

"As I said before, you are in the Beginning. Be thankful you are not at the End." Here the man chuckled some more before getting serious and continuing. "As for what this place is..all I can say is this. Everything has its place in this reality, Lirus. However, there are certain…beings…that like to take things out of where they belong and thrust them into various situations. And more importantly, there's one thing you must remember, Lirus Remingham. The Game has begun." And with that, the man vanished, and as he did, Lirus felt himself rising up, as if someone hooked a chain around his stomach and began hoisting him up at great speed. The last thing he saw was a dark figure cackling. Then he awoke.

* * *

><p>He was lying in a hospital bed, and the palm of his right hand itched something terrible. He cracked open his eyelids and was relieved to see the lights were off in the room. However, it was still light enough for him to take a look at his surroundings.<p>

It was clear that he was lying in a hospital room. The traditional white walls, sterile white floors, and the uncomfortable bed attested to that. There was a soft, golden light filtering through the window, and as he looked outside, he noticed three things. The light was coming from some indefinable source from outside, it was night, and wherever he was, it was moving.

"Its night…jeez, how long was I out? And more importantly, where am I? I remember…the Garden...must've been a dream..." He rubbed his head, and slowly got out of the bed. "Well…I won't find out if I don't go looking…hope nobody minds…" He tested his leg strength, and found that they could hold his weight, so he stood up cautiously, leaning against the wall. He made his way out of the room, to reveal a familiar looking office. He saw a young woman slumped over the front desk, and walked quietly by her, not wanting to disturb her.

As he made his way out of the office, he found himself in a very familiar, large, circular room with two floors. He let out a slight gasp.

"Wait...this can't be right...it wasn't a dream after all?!"At that point, he heard a woman's voice from behind him.

"Ah, you're awake! You should've woke me up!" He turned around to see the young woman that was sleeping at the desk, her long brown hair messily fluffed. She blushed at his scrutinizing. "Well, what do you expect a girl to look like when she sleeps at a desk!" She hastily tried to flatter her hair as Lirus cracked a small smile.

"Uh...sorry its just…I'm a little confused right now…" He stumbled over his words, "Uh..can you tell me where I am?" He hoped she wouldn't say what he thought she would. But she did, with the most gentle smile you would ever see.

"You're in Balamb Garden. Well, we're not really located in Balamb anymore." She laughed, "Right now, we're about two miles off Centra's Eastern coast."

Lirus groaned silently.

"But more importantly, you need to get back to bed. You're still unsteady on your feet, and could use a few more hours of bedrest." He nodded, not giving any argument, and silently followed her back to the bed in the infirmary. 

* * *

><p>Above, on the second floor, a man wearing a hooded cloak smiled to himself as he watched Lirus shuffle his way back into the infirmary. He put his hand on the slender gunblade at his right side, turned, and walked away.<p> 


End file.
